also, keep off the phone if you are in a place with a weak signal because your phone is then actually working harder and as a result emitting more raid wrags. hope that helps. going to wrap things up for sgmd. stay connected at cnn.com/sanjay. let's keep the conversation going at twitter. time to get a check of your top stories in the cnn newsroom. the circle of voter fraud widens. new reports out of florida. at least ten counties are involved. we'll tell you who is behind the scam. a mystery unfolding in tennessee. a house burned to the ground. two children missing, and their guardians found dead. we'll have a live report. debate night is only three days away. a chance for candidates to leave an impression. even if it's not the one they intended. we'll take a look at past debate

bloopers. good morning. i'm gary tuckman in today for randi kaye. thanks for starting your morning with us. it's 8:00 a.m. eastern time. we start in afghanistan with an american service member has been killed in an unusual attack. apparently there was a misunderstanding between coalition troops and their afghan counterparts and that escalated into much more. there's an unknown number of afghan casualties. now, remember this incident comes just three days after the pentagon lifted the ban on joint patrols. there's a news conference scheduled in kabul later this hour. earlier i spoke to ben farmer in kabul, mup reporter, and asked how unusual it is to have the news conference to soon after an incident like this. >> reporter: i think it is. these conferences are being held by the deputy commander of the entire coalition, and he is set to make a statement on what

happened yesterday evening and then will answer questions. it is unusual for someone so senior to give a press conference after such an event. >> as i said, one american was killed. that marks the 2,001 military death in afghanistan for an american since the war started there nearly 11 years ago. more allegations of voter registration fraud in florida. the complaints center around a company originally hired by the republican national committee. the company is called strategic allied consulting. that company did registration drives in five states, including florida. the "new york times" is reporting that suspicious registration forms have been found in ten florida counties. we reached out to florida republican party officials, but they said they could not comment on strategic allied. the company is owned by a man named nathan sprowl. in 2004 his voter registration efforts were also investigated but no charges were filed.

here's what the company is saying about the allegations in the sunshine state. strategic has a zero tolerance policy for breaking the law. accordingly, once we learned of the irregularities in palm beach county, we were able to trace questionable cards to one individual and immediately terminated our working relationship with the individual in question. they fired the worker in florida. meanwhile, the rmc and the state republican party fired strategic in florida, virginia, north carolina, and colorado. why colorado? take a look at this. >> yeah, hi. >> would you vote for romney or obama? >> wait. i thought you were registering voters a minute ago. >> i am. >> who are you registering? all voters? >> well, i'm actually trying to register people for a particular party because we're out here in support of rom my, actually. >> and who is paying you for this? >> oh, the -- let me see.

we're working for the county clerk's office. >> okay. you cannot come out here and register one party, lady. are you working for the county clerk's office? i got it all on tape. are you working for the county clerk's office? >> i believe so, yes. >> and you are only registering republicans? >> nope. >> you said we're only registering romney people. >> well, we're trying to, to be honest. >> and you're working for the county's office? what's your name? >> well, that seemingly confused young woman did not work for the county clerk's office. instead she worked for strategic allied consultants. the executive director of the county's republican party said the company's bad business practices led to that incident. voter registration is even more important now with just 37 days left until presidential election day. there could be as many as 73 million americans who are eligible to vote but aren't registered. the top story of this political week is the looming showdown between president obama and mitt romney. a debate happening that takes

place wednesday night. president obama is using john kerry as his practice partner. the massachusetts senator is portraiting the former massachusetts governor who is mitt romney, and romney is using ron portman as his obama. paul steinhauser has more on their practice sessions. >> reporter: good morning, gary. you know, it's pretty obvious. one will definitely dominate this week in the race for the white house. >> i'm looking forward to the debates. >> reporter: and the first of the three showdowns comes wednesday night when president obama and republican nominee mitt romney face off in denver. both candidates have a lot on the line, especially the gop challenger, who a few days ago gave some insight into his debate preps. >> it's great to have senator rob portman. you know, he debates me from time to time. he is playing barack obama in these mock debates we have. i don't like him very much anymore, all right? he keeps on beating me up and i keep on going away shaking my head. >> reporter: romney flies to colorado monday to hold a rally

that night before hunkering down for final preparations. the president heads to nevada sunday greeting voters that night and then goes behind closed doors for his last-minute preps before flying on to denver on debate day. meanwhile, both presidential campaigns continue to play the expectations game, trying to lower the bar for their candidate. gary. >> thank you very much, paul. the debates are the only way to see the candidates face-to-face, so let's take a look at the debate schedule. as we said, number one, wednesday, october 3rd. can you see it live here on cnn starting 7:00 p.m. eastern time. number two, october 16th, on the campus of hofstra university in long island, new york. our only candy crowley will be moderating that debate. s and then in boca raton, florida, and that's two weeks before election day. there's also one vice presidential debate in danville, kentucky, on october 11th. both of those vice presidential candidates are making noise on the campaign trail while the presidential candidates prepare

for their debate. here's vice president joe biden in one of the key swing states. >> these people are not about to vote for reduce the national debt or have a plan if it requires millionaires to pay a cent, and the amazing thing, they're concerned. what's even more amazing, i watched at their convention, is they discovered the middle class. it was, like mishgs god, there's a middle class. there it is. there it is. i never heard -- i never heard those guys use the phrase middle class more probably in their whole lives than they did at that convention. >> not surprisingly, paul ryan is also focussing on swing states. he made stops in new hampshire and ohio yesterday. in the buckeye state he talked about challengers to gun rights. >> the next president is going

to make a lot of judgments. the next president will appoint a lot of different judges, and these are lifetime appointments. if you want to make sure that judges respect our second amendment rights, you immediate a president who respects those rights as well. mitt romney and i are going to respect the second amendment because it's our individual right to keep and bare arms. >> paul ryan spends the day today attending fundraisers in connecticut. although the u.s. supreme court isn't set to look at any gun rights challenges, it is going to hear several high-profile and controversial cases. tomorrow morning the justices are kicking off the new term. it always happens the first monday in october. here's joe johns with more. >> reporter: right after the supreme court's health care decision in june chief justice john roberts joked to colleagues that he would find an island fortress to escape the political heat. here's how justice bader

ginsburg describes it. >> some have called it the term of the century. >> reporter: there are no signs of it cooling down. >> the justices are moving from the frying pan right into the fire. they are tackling some of the most difficult legal questions of the day across the board probably the biggest term in at least a decade. >> reporter: cases involving the contentious issues of affirmative action, same-sex marriage, voting rights and abortion are all likely to come up this term which kicks off monday. >> there are exciting cases already on the docket, and there's a lot more in the pipeline the court will be making a decision on soon. >> reporter: another set of big decision will bring even more scrutiny on the chief justice. rumors surface that the health care ruling he authored caused a personal rift with fellow conservative colleagues, including justice scalia, a claim scalia denied to cmn's piers morgan. >> no, i haven't had a falling

out with justice roberts. >> no words exchanged, slamming of doors? >> no. nothing like that. >> reporter: the other big question will the chief justice take the court in an aggressive new direction? liberals fear a more hard line dog mattic shift to the right. >> a lot of progress sifz are concerned that this might mean that chief justice roberts has built up some capital, some goodwill and will now push the conservative agenda. >> reporter: tom goldstein who has argued before the court thinks roberts wants a more conservative court, but that he will do it gradually. >> he is not trying to move the law radically quickly. i think justice scalia or justice thomas really want to get to the end answer as quickly as possible and make the law conform to what they really understand, whereas the chief justice is more incrementalist. >> reporter: the conservative court watcher carrie severino doesn't think anything will change any time soon. >> certainly this is not a crusading conservative court.

until we have a shift in the court it's impossible to call it a court that liens more to the left or to the right. >> reporter: for opinions that could be close, 5-4 decisions, attention will also be paid to justice anthony kennedy, who is frequently the swing vote in some of the toughest cases. joe johns, cnn, washington. >> joe, thank you. a mystery in tennessee. two children are missing after their house was destroyed in a fire. now authorities are asking for the public's help in finding them. when we got married. i had three kids. and she became the full time mother of three. it was soccer, and ballet, and cheerleading, and baseball. those years were crazy. so, as we go into this next phase, you know, a big part of it for us is that there isn't anything on the schedule.

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grandparents were killed in a raging fire. their grandchildren are nowhere to be found, and then there's this. so far investigators tell me they have found no evidence of foul play. >> reporter: more than a week after sifting through ashes and debris, investigators have found no sign of chloe and 7-year-old gage daniel. no sign the youngsters were there, and so far no evidence they weren't when an inferno swept through the home where they lived with their grandparents. friends and family don't understand and neither does anyone else. rirchlt helicopters found no sign of the children in surrounding woods. they were last seen playing in the neighborhood about three hours before the fire started last sunday night. did someone take them? the tennessee bureau of investigation issued an amber alert friday night calling the

missing children endangered. authorities don't know what caused the fire, adding to the mystery. >> they said that it was not an intentional fire, but obviously there's more to it than that. >> reporter: closy's parents are not considered suspects, according to police. >> we are tired, but we want this to be -- this to continue on until we find out what has really happened to these children. >> it's what everyone wants to know. what happened to those children? gary. >> susan, you talked about the parents. what was the relationship between the parents and the grandparents and why were the children living with the grandparents? >> gary, that's a good question. we don't know all of the circumstances, but authorities say it appears to have been an agreed upon arrangement and the children have been living with their grandparents for years. now, a tbi spokeswoman says chloe and gage's parents do not live together and have had some legal troubles years ago, but, again, they are not considered suspects. >> so what's the next step,

susan, for the investigators? >> well, police tell me that they are talking to people at the children's school, friends, neighbors, and parents, and authorities are still sorting out, they say, where the parents say they were when the fire started and add that the parents are cooperating. now, as time goes on, authorities are getting, of course, more and more worried about chloe and gage. >> it all sounds very bad. very tragic. susan, thank you very much. in plant city, florida, police have arrested a teacher that was plotting to kill a former colleague. james j.pepe from tampa, florida, has been charged with solicitation of first degree murder. police were tipped off by a witness who says the defendant attempted to hire him to kill a man who once worked with him at hillsborough county school system. he currently teaches high school history in the county. a tragic story out of new fairfield, connecticut. a man shoots and kills his

15-year-old son after mistaking him for a robber. an awful story. jeffrey giulianno ran next door after grabbing his gun, and his sister called to tell him she thought someone was trying to break in. according to police, a person in a mask came towards him shoaled holieding a shiny object, and he pulled the trigger. tyler giuliano was the one with the mask. no one knows what prompted him to do what he did. no charges have been filed. he spent 15 years on death row for a crime he did not commit. now damon tibidow is a free man. he was convicted for the 1996 rape and murder of his 14-year-old step cousin. after nine hours of interrogation by police he falsely confessed to the crime. authorities don't know why he did that, but recent dna tests proved he could not have been guilty. now 38 years old, he says he is concentrating on moving forward. dry weather, skyrocketing prices. there's a definite connection. we'll tell you what the

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it's a beautiful day on capitol hill. good morning to all of you in the nation's capital. good morning to all of you watching cnn. on your next trip to the supermarket you may want to brace yourself. that's because the price of meat is going up.

nobody is happy about it. farmers aren't happy. butchers aren't happy. you are not happy. cmn's athena jones has the reasons why. >> people love meat. >> reporter: meat has pride of place. >> what can i get for you, my friend? >> reporter: ham, pastrama, steak. it's all here. >> we're a meat-eating country, and no matter what people are going to find a way to get meat. >> reporter: but with prices for pork and beef expected to rise next year -- >> ahmed. >> reporter: this long-time meat man says consumers will have to pay more or get used to new cuts. >> what happened in the last increase is people went from eating a lot of primals to new york strips to porterhouses. they went to eating secondary cuts. >> everybody loves steak. >> reporter: the coming sticker shock will impact not just butchers, but restaurants and dinner tables across the country. the worst drought in decades means higher costs for animal feed and lower profits for

farmers. farms lake this one here in maryland have already had to raise prices to keep up. >> what you doing, honey? hi, pig. >> reporter: julie grace steiner runs a small farm near the west virginia border where she raises hens, hogs, and cattle. one-third of her cost goes to animal feed, which is mostly corn and soy. prices for chicken and pig feed have sky rocked since july. >> it was $14.77 on july 2nd. now it's $16.79, so it's gone up by $2 in two months. >> reporter: a fairly significant amount. >> and then here we have the pig pellet was $12.22, and now the pig pellet is $15.06. >> reporter: so it's going to get worse? >> oh, it will get a lot worse. >> reporter: she's now charging $1 a pound more for her sausage, pork chops, and bacon and plans to switch from corn-based hog feed to sorgum to save money. >> it's requiring a lot more creativity. you have to be really good at adapting. >> reporter: since she doesn't raise broiler chickens, the kind

you eat in winter steiner is high pressuring to avoid the worst of the price spike for their feed. unlike most american farmers she grass feeds her cattle, meaning she won't have to worry about grain prices for them. back in washington the butcher customers are preparing themselves. >> i don't mind spending the money if the quality is worth it. >> there's a limit to how much any person would pay. >> reporter: one tongue-in-cheek -- >> eat more tofu. >> reporter: then again, tofu is made of soy. aenthenna jones, maryland. it is time to get you ready for the week ahead. we have our handy dandy calendar. we start off with monday. on monday the u.s. supreme court will meet for the first time since the health care ruling in late june. the justices will kick off new terms. this year they could hear some controversial cases like affirmative action, voting rights, and same-sex marriage. now, we move to tuesday. as soon as i get rid of monday. there we go. we move to tuesday.

on tuesday early in person voting starts in the swing state of ohio. other states have already started mail-in absentee voting. then we get to an important day. that is wednesday. we want to you have your tv sets on because on wednesday it's the first presidential debate of 2012. mitt romney, barack obama face-off denver, colorado. we'll have live coverage on cnn. then we get to the end of the week. the end of the week is friday, and this could be important for the presidential election because the september jobs report will be released. that's this friday. this could be a critical talking point for the presidential campaigns. only two more jobs reports will come out before the november election. our handy dandy week ahead calendar. well, have you ever tried a new religion? how about a religion about ufo's where church goers say if it feels good, do it. our next guest tried it and seven other religions that stray from the mainstream. [ nicole ] so i'm trying

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[ male announcer ] now get 50% off brake pads and shoes at meineke. welcome back to cnn sunday morning. i'm gary tuckman in for randy kay. it's the bottom of the hour now. here are some of the stories that we're watching. more allegations of voter registration fraud. that includes making up mamz and using fake addresses. strategic allied consultants did registration drives many five states, including florida. zirchlg the state republican parties have also fired strategic allied consultants. off the campaign trail and prepping for the debate.

that's the story for mitt romney and boem obama with just three days to go before their first faceoff in denver. senator john kerry is portraying romney during obama's practice sessions while senator rob portman is playing the role of the president for mitt romney. coverage for wednesday's debate begin at 7:00 eastern time here on cnn. to afghanistan where an american service member is among the dead after a battle between afghan forces and international troops in the capital of kabul. the latest in a string of so-called green on blue or insider attacks also led to the death of the civilian contractor and three afghan soldiers. a woman who won $1 million in a michigan state lottery last year has died. 25-year-old amanda clayton was found in her suburban detroit home saturday. police haven't released an official cause of death, but they do suspect a possible drug overdose. clayton hit headlines earlier this year when she was forced to be sentenced to probation for admitting she continued to collect food stamps even after she won $1 million.

my guests for today's faces of fate. how to find the right god for you. i'm sure you have the main religions, christianity judaism, islam, but there are thousands more. eric whiner imersed himself in eight different religions, many widely known. others quite obscure. first sufism, booedism, franciscan and then there's rail, the world estlargest ufo-based religion focused on pleasure. , taoism, wica, a tribal spirituality based on nature and sometimes using hallucinogenens and then finally kaballah, madonna practices this. this is a book called "man seeks

god." he joins us now from washington. eric, good morning. it's absolutely fascinating what you did. tell us how you started this junior where i. >> well, i started in the library, actually. there some 10,000 religions. i had to narrow it down to the eight that was difficult, and oncedy that, i made a determined effort to go out and essentially test drive these eight religions. not to just study them as an academic or as the jurmist that i for most of my life was, but to actually experience them to get into the driver's seat and as much as possible to try to figure out what it is that the followers of these faiths get out of it. what does it do for them?

>> is it disrespectful to test drive a religion? >> i don't think it is. the problem i have with so much of the discussion of religion in this country is that we are so afraid of offending anyone that we're afraid of discussing it and we're afraid of going out and trying it, and of these eight faiths, everyone welcomed me with open arms. nobody tried to proselatize and shove their religion down my throat. they opened their doors to me, and religions, the vast majority, do accept converts, of course. there are eye few that don't, but most do, and so absolutely it's okay to test drive a religion. you wouldn't buy a new car without test driving it. why would you convert to a new faith without trying it out first? >> so what kind of things did you find? >> i found that there is a lot of wisdom out there in these religions that's hidden and often hidden beneath a lot of ritual and theology that i'm going to be honest here, turns a lot of people off. i know it turned me off.

>> can you extract that and make that sort of the driving force behind your religious life? >> real quickly, your religious background? >> i do but not much of one. i was born jewish, but in my family we were really gastronomical jews. it was all about the food and not about god and religion. i think i'm fairly typical that way. a lot of jews and christians and muslims feel estrange from their faith, but yet we continue to have these spiritual yearnings and we want to fulfill them, so we have quite a spiritually promiscuous nation. nearly one out of three americans will change their religious affiliation over the course of their lifetime, and it might be a fairly narrow modification from, say, you know, lutheran to methodist or

it might be a big jump from catholic to muslim or jewish to buddhist. we are a nation of seekers. >> i think most would acknowledge that the biggest jump would be religions like wica and railism which we just mentioned. did you find anything valuable about those particular religions? >> on the face of it they are strange. i'm not going to deny that. as a journalist, i was skeptical, but i did find in the face of neo paganism or wika, some fascinating things. one is their approach to ritual. they would speak of bad ritual, after i takened a service in the pacific northwest. they said, well, we've seen some bad ritual. what do you mean by that? they mean it's ritual not where you -- ritual whose content does not move people, and because wickans are essentially making it up as they go along, trying

to recreate these prechristian religions, they are free to write ritual, to actually write a ritual the way you might write a screen play or a novel and they're trying to write it in a way that moves you, so good ritual is ritual that gives you energy and makes you feel good and raises your heights, and bad ritual is almost like a bad tv show. it's just a dud. it doesn't do anything for you. i found that quite interesting. >> let's talk about other ritual, which i would think a lot of people would think is bad, and that issionism and the use of drugs. what did you experience with that? >> i stayed away from the drugs because i thought they couldn't lead anywhere good, but i did attend a workshop, and it's really -- shamanism like so many religions is all about a way of getting out of your head. that's what the mystical faiths are about, like kaballah. we spend so much time in our

head thinking and thinking rationally, which is a good thing. don't get me wrong. in a way we do our best thinking, as you may notice, your best ideas may come in the shower or you're going for a walk. not when you're really focused on the problem. and what a lot of these religious practices are like shamanism is enchanting or dancing or something to get you out of your head and to get in touch with some other part of you. call it your unconscious. call it your soul. call it whatever you want. >> eric, so you're not a wican or railism? >> no, i'm not. i'm a little confused. i'm calling myself a confusionist, but i have returned to my jewish roots much more than i thought i would at the beginning of this journey. i have what i call an ikea god. some assembly required, and i think there is value in that. there is value of teaing bits and pieces from here and there provided -- and this is a big provided -- you have some sort of foundation. for me that foundation is

judaism, but i begin most mornings with buddhist meditation and before today is out i might whirl like a dirvish, i don't know. it's possible to mix and match as long as you have a foundation to do it on. >> eric, fascinating book. called "man seeks god, my flirtations with the divine." google maps takes a dive, but not a bad dive. we'll tell you about the new venture that gets us a close-up view diving under water looking at a whole new world. ♪ [ male announcer ] every car we build must make adrenaline pump and pulses quicken. ♪ to help you not just to stay alive... but feel alive. the new c class is no exception. it's a mercedes-benz through and through. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services.

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>> that was 57 years ago today. a flight to australia from anywhere in this country can cost thousands of dollars. you want to add in a tour of the great barrier reef? who wouldn't. now google is giving you a manslaughter to see it all for free. taking its street view off the road and taking it under water. our editorial producer in additiona is here to tell us more about this. you are telling us that all these plans i've had to go to australia to see the great barrier reef, i don't need to do. >> you're about to see collaboration and innovation at its finest because google has partnered with scientists to come up with high definition panoramic views of huge sections of the great barrier reef. >> so that is something they haven't done before? they do a lot of stuff, google, but this is brand new. >> this is ino vaifsh. it was posted this week. you can now go on. what's extraordinary about it is the camera is so unique because

it really models a shark in terms of speed and movement, so you feel like you are swimming along as if you were a shark and getting these panoramic views in high definition. >> so why is google doing this? >> google is doing this in partnership with the scientists, and the scientists specifically are saying we want to create awareness about the reef, but what is the impact of climate change is having on the 2,300 feet reef. >> you looked at it. how realistic? >> it's beautiful. >> did you get wet? >> no. it's nothing like actually being there, but for somebody like me or you who can't get there anyway today, the fact is it certainly provides a unique and wonderful experience, but the head scientists of the group that's doing this said what's so unexpected is they discovered four new species of coral. they've discovered a brand new pigmy sea horse. through this they've discovered all kinds of new species and also if you do go on the tour, you will see something called -- >> please tell us what it is.

it sounds very exotic. >> it is. this is a marine mammal that's closely related to elephants and prolific in the great barrier reef. >> these are elephants that have gills. >> yes. and what's extraordinary about this project is they say if it's successful, they will expand it to other areas of the world, so right now australia, hawaii, philippines, that area of the reef, but should is t work really well, then they'll go to bermuda, the coral triangle, the indian ocean. an on-line experience. >> i think that's really great. so we no longer have to go on vacations. i you we can go on google. >> going to ahs rail why is a 12, 13 hour flight and then -- >> on this job you go pretty much everywhere, and i have not been to australia yet. >> have you ever been diving? >> yes. >> so your gear could take you there, but something about seeing it many this way not only depends on your computer screen so that's where your real large area comes into play. if you're on your phone, it's not as impactful.

>> we'll look at it on a large skreep together. >> we'll they that would be a good idea to have a great barrier leave party. >> let's have a viewing date. >> we have coral and dugongs. we'll go down under. thank you. >> fascinating. well, which candidate had the funniest one-liner ever in a presidential debate? was it president ronald reagan? how about george bush, senior? george bush jr. that's george w. bush, of course, or president obama? we will take a look at history's greatest debate moments. [ male ] sponges take your mark. ♪ [ female announcer ] one drop of ultra dawn has twice the everyday grease cleaning ingredients of one drop of the leading non-concentrated brand... ♪ [ crowd cheering ] ...to clean 2x more greasy dishes. dawn does more. so it's not a chore.

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the good they did inspires us, prepares us and guides us. at new york life, everything we do is to help you keep good going. >> the debate on wednesday. romney is taking two days off. you can't just walk in there. you have to prepare for these details dee baits. romney is taking a couple of days off. is he going to study. they'll have practice debates. he is going to do that for two days. another full day of spray tan,

and then he will be ready to go. >> even though our own candy crowley is moderating the second debate, i know she will be attending the first one next week. candy, joining us from warr wash. what are the expectations for this first debate, and how important is it? >> i think from here on out we're at 39, 38 days, everything is important. particularly an hour and a half as each of these debates are with as big an audience as they're going to get because this is as big an audience as they're going to get between now and the election time unless something happens in the president wants a nationwide address, but nonetheless, insofar as the campaign is concerned, these are very important hours and a half. will they change up the mix? they have the potential to do it. the expectations, well, if you ask the obama campaign what they think, they say, oh, you know what, mitt romney has had a lot of practice, and he is a great debater, and he is really wonderful, and then you ask the

romney campaign. they say, oh, you know, obama is really a tough guy because he is a really eloquent -- everybody is boosting everybody's expectations, but here's the bottom line. mitt romney has the most to lose here. the guy running behind going into a debate with this many people watching is the one that has to do the best or at least be seen as holding his own standing toe to toe. >> what do you have on tap? >> well, we want to talk a little bit about the debate. senator john mccain is here. he is -- he holds, i guess, an esteemed position of having -- mitt romney and barack obama. we want to talk about that, but, as you know, the world is seeing in libya, certainly in afghanistan, in places like that, have been chaotic recently with americans tragically killed. we want to get some updates from him about that as well. >> candy, it's always great seeing you. thank you for joining us. keep it here for candy's program "state of the union." it starts nine minutes from now

precisely. 9:00 a.m. eastern time, 6:00 a.m. on the west coast right here on cnn. >> great one liner. from president reagan to vice president gore, comedian dean joins me to talk about some of the funniest and most memorable moments. ♪ [ male announcer ] how do you engineer a true automotive breakthrough? ♪ you give it bold new styling, unsurpassed luxury and nearly 1,000 improvements. introducing the redesigned 2013 glk. see your authorized mercedes-benz dealer for exceptional offers through mercedes-benz financial services. to meet the needs of my growing business. but how am i going to fund it? and i have to find a way to manage my cash flow better. [ female announcer ] our wells fargo bankers are here to listen, offer guidance and provide you with options

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>> i specifically would like to know whether governor bush will support the dingell-norwood bill, which is the main one pending? >> governor bush i mau answer that if you like, but also how do you see the differences between the two of you, and we need to move on? >> well, the difference is i can get it done. that i can get something positive done on behalf of the people. that's what the question of this campaign is about. it's not only what's your fill ones if i and what's your position on issues, but can you get things done. and i believe i can. >> all right. >> i remember that moment like it was yesterday. it was 12 years ago. unforgettable moment when al gore approached soon to be president george w. bush in their third and final debate back in 2000. that was quite an election year. given it's that time of year

again this wednesday president obama, mitt romney start debating this week. we want to take a look back at some of the, well, the lighter moments from presidential hopefuls. the very funny dean joins me now from new york city. hey, dean, thanks for joining us. >> good. thanks for having me. >> what did you think of that moment? did you watch it live 12 years ago? what did you think of that moment with gore? >> i have followed politics for a long time. i think that was a great moment. watching again. it's funny because you have this awkward moment. the whole audience is watching. al gore walks over like franken stein or a school yard bully, and george bush reacts like what are you doing here, buddy, and i think it's funny and it's a glimpse into the bush we get to know like, hey, what's up, how are you doing? i think it was a great human organic reaction, and that's why it creates a connection with the audience at home. what is gore doing? >> also, in 2000 george w. bush has this pretty good line and i'll read it to you. it goes, "i'm beginning to think not only did he invent the internet, but he invented the

calculator as well. it's fuzzy math." now, were all these moments just fun, or do they have a real impact on votes? >> i think this one goes to the narrative of the bush campaign was running. al gore had said -- he never said i invented the internet. he said while in congress i took the initiative in creating the internet, saying he worked at it. the bush people have turned it into saying you invented the intbt. you're a boaster and bragger. this joke just furthers that narrative, and it's funny. comedy is a great way of endearing yourself to the audience. it builds a connection with people. people are laughing and smiling and like watching you. it's a great tool to use, and that was a funny moment. also, i think bush is bad at math, so what he is talking about is fudzy math, and he is saying he can't really add. >> i'm going to do some math here and tell you that 28 years ago we're going to go back to a debate between president ronald reagan against walter mondale. here's how reagan handled criticism that at the age of 37 at the time he might be too old to serve as president. >> i want you to know that also i will not make age an issue of

this campaign. i am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience. >> now, that is a famous line all these years later. that really worked for reagan, didn't it, dean? >> that is one of the greatest comedic lines in all of the debates. president reagan at times got rid of what his greatest weakness was. the economy was turning around. his greatest weakness was his age. was he smart enough? did he have it all together? he did a joke. it killed. everyone laughed. it's a great move to do. i think it closed the door on that issue. i'm a comedian. telling a joke is risky. if i bomb, believe me, it sucks. you do it in front of 2 million, 5 million, 10 million people and all of a sudden you're not as approachable, and the late night comedians will be mocking any candidate that does it. i think comedy from romney or obama if done well about an issue, make people laugh at their own follies, perhaps, is a

great way to engender goodwill. >> dean, 20 years ago, this is one of my favorite moments in debate. james stockdale, the vp candidate for ross perot. he had his own moment right off the bat. listen to his opening statement. >> who am i? why am i here? >> this poor guy back then. he got hammered after he said why am i here? what's going on? that's classic too, right? >> that's a classic. it's a question i ask myself often when i'm up this early. who am i? why am i here? he was just trying to make a point and trying to connect with people. nobody knew him. he was ross perot's running mate. he was a third party candidate. he was trying to be funny, but this guy was a little offbase on a lot of things. that was really funny, but innocent a good way. there's a difference. there's jokes at your own expense or jokes cutting your opponent, and this paved the narrative that he had gone a little bit -- a little lost at times. >> the final thing really quickly, dean, we're looking for humor this wednesday,